Ambient Air Quality Assessment within Abuja Municipal Area, Nigeria

Abstract

TPS 641: Policies, interventions, communication, Exhibition Hall, Ground floor, August 28, 2019, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Objective: This study aimed to assess the health risk by particulate inhalation within Abuja Municipal Area, Nigeria and analyze the potential sources of particles and results may establish a baseline data on the particulate matter and provide scientific basis for the air pollution control. Methods: The study was conducted from August to September 2018. A handheld portable smart Air Quality Detector BR-SMART-126 was used to measure Particulate Matter (PM2.5 & PM10) at 20 different locations. Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) Model for backward trajectory was applied to tract the air flow (transportation) and potential sources. Health risk was estimated by comparing with the air quality index (AQI) stipulated by World Health Organization (WHO). Results: The result shows that the daily averaged concentrations of PM2.5 varied from 15.30 25 µg/m3 to 70.20 25 µg/m3. Four (4) locations (10, 14, 17 and 18) out for the Twenty (20) locations were found to be above the acceptable (25 µg/m3) AQI limit stipulated by WHO which all fell under very unhealthy AQI value index. In general, business/commercial locations had the highest PM2.5 level followed by transport/market, offices/mixed use and residential. The result implies that population or workers within the business location are at health risk based on the relatively poor air quality in these areas especially location 10 and 17. The results from the backwards trajectories shows that the sources of local particles for the 4 most polluted locations shows long range air transport originated from the Atlantic ocean. Conclusion: Based on this findings, it is recommended that the regulatory and enforcement agency needs to develop a more robust monitoring mechanism, regulations and enforcement. Also there is need for a national drive on clean energy to form cleaner air initiatives for a safe environment as well as reduce particulate matters in the city.